Updated Training Schedule

I’m seven weeks into my training schedule and I’ve not missed a single session or completed a session with anything less than 100%. I’ve been setting personal bests nearly every sessions ( more reps, 1RM etc ) and it shows no signs of letting up. Here’s some numbers to kick things off with

My goal is 8% body fat and I’d like to get there by July so assuming that my lean mass stays the same ( more or less ) then my weight should be about 180lbs. I understand that the only way to know this is have a body fat reading, but without the correct equipment this isn’t accurately possible for me. So as long as I’m making gains (or at the very least keeping my strength) in my weight training I’ll assume that my lean mass is staying more or less the same. However, I’ve decided to make some adjustments to nutrition because I suspect I’m a little high on the calories even though they look a little on the low side and I’ve made some adjustments to the workouts to account my very sedintary lifestyle. What’s interesting to note that all of my lifts are up from the 4th of January and I’ve added some size around my arms, this is leading me to conclude that I could tweak my nutrition a little bit.

Nutrition

I’ve been following an intermittent fasting meal schedule using the leangains guide. Although not intentional I could also be considered to be carb cyclying because Monday to Friday I eat paleo style, but on weekends I do have some lots of brown bread, rice & potatoes. Along with a favourite cheatmeal ( only one per week though ).

What I’ve been consuming up until this point per day is

180-200g Protein

100g Fat

Less than 30g of Carbs ( normally dried fruit )

Training

I initially started out walking 2.5 miles each morning and I followed this for a four weeks. After that time I changed this to A.M kettlebell sessions which normally are 20 rounds of 30 seconds work and 30 seconds rest. Depending on the mood I’d do either Clean & Jerks or Swings.

Last week I’ve introduced tabata sprints and jogging into the mix, because I I’ve rediscovered running after working on my form. Vibram five fingers here I come.

The weight training I’ve been doing is pretty similar to what I’ve been doing since last year. Here’s what’s changed from my initial posts

Training is now three days per week - Monday, Wednesday & Friday

Monday - Deadlifts, rows & chins.

Wednesday - Military press ( cleaned ), bench, & pull ups

Friday - Squats, squat cleans & power cleans & chins

chins and pull ups are alternated each workout

The changes.

As an overview here’s how it looks

Monday - Training Day.

Tuesday - Active Recovery

Wednesday - Training Day

Thursday - Active Recovery

Friday - Training Day

Saturday - Rest

Sunday - Rest

Nutrition

I’m still following the leangains guide and also eating in the same way so there’s no change there. The main difference is in the macros of what I’m eating and the total calories consumed. The calories are made up of around 250g of protein with the rest coming from high quality fats. I know this may seem a little low and it would to me, but I work from home and this means I don’t move around a lot. At the first sign of losing strength I’ll start upping the calories, but the past week I’ve been fine and hit some new personal records. Here’s what I’m consuming at the moment

250g Protein

40/70g Fat depending on day

Less than 30g of Carbs ( normally dried fruit )

Mornings

As much as I like the morning walks they take 45 minutes. I’ve cut this down to 20 or 30 mins ( depending on days Mon, Wed, Fri 30 mins, Tues & Thurs - 20 mins ). The time saved is spent reading the massive pile of books I have to get through for my MA. Following the lean gains guide I ingest 10g of BCAA about 20 mins before I workout. So technically it’s not fasted. The goal of these sessions, particularly the days that I run, is to work very, very, very hard. Last week was the first week that I’ve implemented the changes and they do what they set out to. I’m dripping of sweat after one of the running sessions. The kettlebell sessions are medium difficulty - enough to break a nice sweat but easy enough to be considered active recovery.

Monday - 4 mins of tabata sprints + slow 2.5 mile run

Tuesday - 20 mins kettlebell work

Monday - 4 mins of tabata sprints + slow 2.5 mile run

Thursday - 20 mins kettlebell work

Friday - 4 mins of tabata sprints + slow 2.5 mile run

The goal of these sessions is to combat my “working from home and hardly moving all day” lifestyle.

Weights

Apart form moving the days around from four days weights to three, there is no change. I do reverse pyramids on my lifts. I warm up to working weight and then come back down, pushing myself as for as many reps as I can do with good form. The chin-up and pull-up work is working as I had intended. At Christmas my record for pull-ups was three dead hangs and now I’m six. My dead hang chins were four and now I’m onto seven.

Conclusion

If you’re reading this thinking that my calorific intake is a little low, then I would have shared your concerns had I not of been me. I’m going to keep and eye on it and if I see that my strength or performance is in anyway suffering, then I’ll up it until I see balance restored. My goal of 8% body fat by July means that every two weeks I need to be shifting around 2lbs of fat. This is why I’ve lowered the calories because I think I’m actually at a maintenance level whereas I should be at a slight deficit.

The changes to the morning schedule have been introduced for time reasons and also to include some of the stuff that I like doing ( kettlebells ) and to include some real fat busting exercises - sprints. The running is in there because I think I like it again. If I keep with it until after this cut, then I’ll invest in some five fingers and add it to the list of things that I do.